Animal pets, such as dogs and cats, like their human counterparts, are subject to dental health problems. These problems can be traced to the formation of bacterial plaque that forms on the exterior surface of teeth. Plaque is an invisible, sticky film of bacteria, salivary proteins and polysaccharides that are not easily washed away. Plaque is now generally recognized as the main culprit of poor oral health. Bacteria that produce the acid for the caries process are held to the tooth surface by the plaque matrix as well as other bacteria which cause redness and swelling (gingivitis). The presence of these bacteria, if left untreated, may spread to cause malodor, periodontal disease, gingival pockets and bone loss.
Dental calculus, or tartar, is the result of the thickening and hardening (mineralization) of dental plaque. Tartar, which is not easily removed, accumulates on the tooth surface, mainly at the gingival margin opposite the salivary glands. It is a hard mineral deposit containing predominantly calcium and phosphate, very tightly bound to the tooth surface. Once it is formed, tartar is virtually impossible to remove except by a dental professional. Tartar can become unsightly if growth is left unimpeded, and elimination is desirable as the porous surface of the calculus will be covered by a thin layer of unmineralized plaque that can cause constant irritation of the gums and can trigger other problems once calculus is formed below the gum line.
A variety of products have been manufactured to provide animal pets with objects to chew or gnaw. They are intended to provide the pet with exercise and to satisfy the need for chewing that arose when the natural pet food, raw meat, were replaced with processed pet foods. Rawhide strips knotted on the ends to resemble bones, for example, provide abrasion for cleaning teeth by removing tartar and massaging the gums, which is not provided by the typical canine dog food.
Numerous devices have also been employed that use a variety of projections and grooves to remove plaque from the exterior of animal teeth. Examples of such devices include, but are not limited to the following. U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,516 discloses a device for cleaning the teeth of a dog or other animal. The device comprises of a core element and a deformable outer shell. Brushes extending from the core element protrude through openings in the outer shell upon deformation of the outer shell. U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,302 discloses a device for animal dental hygiene including a bone shaped body made of tough rubber-like material. A number of opposing spiral grooves are formed into the bone shaped body. U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,436 discloses a bone-shaped therapeutic chew toy device having a number of sharp conically shaped spikes distributed over the surface of the chew. The device is molded from a hard and tough material. U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,191 discloses a synthetic chew formed with a rigid frame and a softer chewing portion. The chew portion can include a plurality of projections extending outward from a base of the chew portion.
As demonstrated by the above, several examples of animal chews have been developed utilizing a series of projections to remove plaque from the animals' teeth. However, these prior art animal chews lack significant surfaces to be grasped by animals or their owners without interference of the projections. The chews also do not maintain uniform cleaning surfaces when grasped in any radial direction. Accordingly, a need remains to advance the design of the prior art products to improve the efficiency of a given chew toy to enhance the dental hygiene requirements of the animal.
There is therefore a need in the pet chew field for an animal chew toy that can rub between the sides of the animal's teeth and massage the gums of the animal to reduce the build up of plaque and loss of teeth due to periodontal disease while maintaining a portion of the chew toy for the animal or owner to grasp without interference from the projections. Furthermore, there remains a need for a chew that provides cleaning no matter what radial direction the chew is grasped.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for removing plaque using an animal chew toy having projections that are uniquely positioned to provide optimum cleaning of the animal's teeth, which chew toy may be of unitary construction and formed from edible resin materials.
It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a method for removing plaque using an animal chew toy that provides consistent exposure to the projections regardless of the radial direction the chew is applied.